YOBS who are terrorising train passengers should be prosecuted, named and shamed, as violence escalates in the Petersfield area, regular rail users claimed this week.
The call from the Portsmouth to Waterloo Line Rail Users' Group came after a 17 year old was seriously injured in an incident at Liss station which is being treated as grievous bodily harm.
The teenager is currently in Queen Alexandra hospital in Portsmouth, where he has had to have one leg amputated.
British Transport Police are also investigating allegations of a mass fight involving as many as 12 youngsters on the train before it reached Liss on the night of the accident.
It is the latest of a series of incidents on the line, which include a major fracas at Bedhampton last year, when another teenager lost a leg.
In the last two months British Transport Police have also received two allegations of rape on the line between Petersfield and Havant, both of which are still being investigated.
There have been several serious assaults, including an incident where a youth was seriously injured when he was stabbed in the back with a piece of tube lighting near Havant.
British Transport Police are also investigating a stabbing which took place on a train going into Fratton.
The chairman of the Rail Users' Group, Brian Keefe, reported that on Tuesday, as he travelled to the meeting at Liss, he had encountered a group of youths kicking and smashing things in the underpass at Petersfield Station.
They were also insulting and threatening people in the underpass.
The meeting was also told that a further problem had been highlighted at Liphook station, where a Guildford school pupil was being regularly harassed by a group of local students.
The loutish behaviour on the link bus from Liphook to Bordon at times became so bad late at night that the bus driver was forced to abandon the route and return to the depot, the meeting was also told.
Mr Keefe said: 'I am concerned about the bad behaviour of a small section of passengers on certain trains."
He said the Liss incident had taken place on the last train back from Portsmouth, which had already been flagged up as a problem train.
"South West Trains staff have highlighted trains which cause difficulties, and are putting travel safety officers on them. Unfortunately there was no one around when this incident happened," he said.
He added: "There is an element in the Petersfield, Liss and Liphook area who are hoodlums. It happened again tonight at 6-30 when I was going to Petersfield station. There were a number of youths using the underpass who were kicking and smashing things and making a terrible noise, and being insulting and threatening to people."
He urged SWT: "I believe these people should be arrested and taken to court and fined so they are named and shamed in the newspapers. Until something like this happens, this sort of behaviour will go on."
Mr Keefe said he was concerned for the safety of other passengers.
"Some people won't travel on the train because of this sort of behaviour," he warned.
The group station manager for SWT, Sue Grier, told the meeting half a dozen teenagers had been caught putting stones on the live rail near Bedhampton on Tuesday in the latest vandalism incident.
She added that some of the travel safety officers who normally work on the Portsmouth to Waterloo line trains were currently taking part in an operation at the Portsmouth Triangle. "That is why you have not seen as many around at the moment," she told the rail users.
She said SWT had to advise its staff not to approach youngsters who were likely to cause violence on trains, as the company had a duty to its employees, but guards did telephone ahead for police back-up in certain circumstances.
"But it all depends on whether the police can get to the train in time," she said. "For instance, if they are called to a train coming to Liphook, they have to come from Whitehill unless they are in the right place at the right time."
Ms Grier said there was also a problem on the link bus from Liphook to Bordon, especially late at night when it was used by members of the public, not necessarily rail passengers.
"Sometimes the bus drivers have had it so rough and bad that they have called it a night and taken the bus back to the depot," she said.
Bramshott and Liphook parish councillor John Tough said there was a further problem of "bullying and intimidation" at Liphook station .
He told the meeting: "A mother has complained about her child travelling from Guildford and being harassed by Bohunt students on the station platform."
He said the matter was being dealt with through the parish council and the police, but it was possible it could be curtailed if there was a travel safety officer in evidence.
This week the British Transport Police officer investigating the Liss incident, Detective Inspector Karl Skrzypiec, told The Herald one suspect had been arrested and bailed.
He appealed for witnesses who may have seen a fight taking place on the train before it reached Liss.
"The amount of violence on the line is escalating and it is not acceptable," said Det Insp Skrzypiec. "We have got to do something about it, and we are taking action through measures such as the travel safety officers."
He added: "I think the stations from Portsmouth up to Haslemere probably need more attention from police and railway staff to try and reduce the number of offences by young people that are taking place, and we are taking steps to support police and to reassure passengers."